Former Vanity Fair journalist Rachel Williams filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix over her portrayal in the limited series Inventing Anna. The series centers on con artist Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, played by Emmy-nominee Julia Garner. Williams, played by Katie Lowes, was left over $60,000 in debt after they went on a trip to Morocco together.
“Netflix purposely used my real name, and real aspects of my life, to create a totally false and defamatory characterization of me,” Williams said in a statement to TheWrap. “The truth matters and portraying real people requires real responsibility. I am filing this lawsuit to hold Netflix accountable for its deliberate recklessness.”
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In her lawsuit, she accused Netflix of making a “deliberate decision for dramatic purposes” to portray Williams as a “greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person.” As a result of the series, “Williams was subjected to a torrent of online abuse, negative in-person interactions and pejorative characterizations in podcasts,” the lawsuit reads. She also received thousands of abusive messages, Williams said.
The documents suggest Netflix had a chance to avoid damaging Williams’ reputation if they gave her character a fictitious name and changed other details so audiences wouldn’t see Lowes’ character as directly representing Williams. She went on to note that her character is the “only one” in the show whose real full name, real employer, alma mater, and even home neighborhood are all included. Meanwhile, the show gave fictitious names to “Sorokin’s business lawyer, her boyfriend, and the wealthy socialite and her fashion designer acolyte.” (Anna Chlumsky’s character is also based on Jessica Pressler, the journalist whose reporting serves as the basis for the series. Chlumsky’s character was renamed Vivian Kent for the show.)
Williams wrote about her experiences with Sorokin for Vanity Fair in 2018 and in the 2019 book My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress. Williams signed a deal with HBO, which plans to adapt her book, even though some of the events were already depicted in the Netflix series. Williams previously criticized Netflix for Inventing Anna in a February 2022 essay for AirMail. In it, Williams accused Netflix of “running a con woman’s P.R…. and putting money in her pocket.”
“The reason why we have had to file this lawsuit is because Netflix used Rachel’s real name and biographical details, and made her out to be a horrible person, which she is not,” Williams’ attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs said in a statement to TheWrap. “The devastating damage to her reputation could have been avoided if only Netflix had used a fictitious name and different details. Why didn’t they do this for her, when they did for so many other characters in the Series? Perhaps the reason was that she had chosen to play for the other team, i.e., HBO.”
All nine episodes of Inventing Anna were released on Netflix in February. The series earned mixed critical responses but still picked up Emmy nominations for Garner’s performance, Outstanding Casting, and Oustanding Limited or Anthology Series. The real Sorokin was convicted on eight charges in 2019 and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison. She was released on good behavior two years into her sentence but is still at an ICE detention center awaiting deportation.
